Summer Fun Thank You

Happy Monday!  Did you all have a fabulous weekend?  And are you as addicted to the Olympics as I am?!?  My sweetie and I had a great time down at the lake with some family - we played golf, swam, went out on the boat, and most importantly we got some much needed R&R!

I made this thank you card to give to my sweetie's aunt to thank her and her family for letting us stay with them and enjoy the weekend with them.  I'm going to submit this into the challenge over at Die Cuttin Divas - Summer Fun.  I created a mini-scene with images that make me think of relaxing along the beach or by the pool.

Now I'm off to watch some more Olympic coverage!  Hope your week is off to a great start!

Recipe:
Solid cardstock from Bazzill and Recollections
Pattern cardstock from DCWV
Chair from Life's a Beach cut at 3.4 inches
Sun from Pack Your Bags cut at 2.5 inches
Flipflops and sunglasses from Pack Your Bags cut at 1.8 inches
Face from Peachy Keen Stamps Everyday Character faces
Rub-on sentiment
i-rock gems
pop dots

Wedding Card

Happy Saturday!  My sweetie and I are enjoying some R&R at the lake with some family.  Loving the getaway!!

Before we left, I made a card for some good friends of ours.  They are getting married in Virginia Beach in about 10 days and we are so excited for them!  We're getting together with them next week so that we can wish them well before their big day.  I'm going to submit this card into the challenge over at Fantabulous Cricut - perfect timing for them to have a 'Wedding Bliss' challenge!  :)

Thanks for coming by and I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend!

Recipe:
Cardstock from Bazzill and Recollections
Frame from Elegant Edges cut at 3.75 inches
Bride and Groom from Wedding cut at 2.75 inches
Sentiments from My Craft Spot's Happily Ever After set
Ribbon from The Paper Studio
Star Dust Sakura gel pen
Devine Swirls embossing folder

Baby Shower Card

Happy Wednesday!  Another busy week for me, but my sweetie and I are looking forward to some relaxing lake time this weekend so we're excited about that!

The card I'm sharing today is the card I made for the baby shower we went to this past Sunday.  I wanted to make something different than a 'standard' A2 card, so I decided to go with a tri-fold shutter card to change things up a little.  I chose images that were similar to ones on the shower invitation, added some buttons, ribbon, twine bows, and there you have it.  This card came together pretty easily for me - I think I'm getting some of my crafting mojo back!!  :)

Thanks for coming by and I hope you're all having a wonderful week!

Recipe:
Solid cardstock from Bazzill and Recollections
Pattern cardstock from DCWV
Mother-to-be from New Arrival cut at 4.5 inches
Rattle from 9 Months cut at 2.25 inches
Baby blocks from New Arrival cut at 1.2 inches
Frame from Elegant Edges cut at 3.3 inches
Sentiment pieced together from 2 different stamps in My Pink Stamper's Happiest Moments and Sweet Baby sets
Buttons from my stash
Twine from My Craft Spot
Ribbon from KI Memories

Baby Shower Cookies

Good evening!  I hope you've all had a fabulous weekend.  This weekend has been pretty relaxing for my sweetie and me - I love relaxing weekends!

Today, my sweetie and I went to a co-ed baby shower.  I have been wanting to try decorating some sugar cookies with royal icing, so I decided this would be a great opportunity to give it a try.  I made sugar cookies, putting some of them on sticks.  I used a recipe I found HERE and used her instructions for putting the cookies on sticks.  I was surprised how easy it really was!  Then I found instructions and a recipe for royal icing HERE.  And again, I was surprised how easy it was!  It was a very time consuming process - making the dough, chilling it, rolling it out, chilling it, etc etc, then decorating the cookies was time consuming as well.  So a long process to get the cookies made, but not a difficult one.  :)

Here are a couple of the cookies I made.  I put treat bags over 4 of the cookies and tied them with curling ribbon, then attached them to the gift bag for a little added touch.  The mommy-to-be was excited to receive them as she has been craving cookies lately.  Thanks for coming by to take a look at the cookies!!

Anniversary Card

Happy Wednesday!  I found some time this past weekend to get downstairs and do some crafting.  There were some cards I needed to get made so I could get them out in the mail.  I'm hoping to get some inspiration and motivation and make it back down there later this week and weekend.  With the heat they're forecasting for us this weekend, the basement is probably the best place for me to spend my time!!

My brother and his wife celebrated their 13th wedding anniversary yesterday.  This is the card I made for them in honor of the occasion and to wish them a fabulous fourteen year of marriage!  I love the champagne glass images for anniversaries for some reason, and there are a number of them to choose from on various Cricut cartridges.  A pretty simple card, but I was pleased with how it turned out.  Thanks for stopping by to take a look!!

Recipe:
Cardstock from Bazzill and Recollections
Champagne glasses from Wedding cut at 2.5 inches
Frame from Elegant Edges cut at 5 inches
Glossy Accents
Pop Dots

Birthday Card

Hello!  It's been a long time since I've posted!!  I've been busy with the 'usual' work, running and golf, but there have been a number of other activities that have been occupying my sweetie and my's time lately.  When I have had some free time, I just haven't been motivated to craft.  :(  I finally got downstairs for a bit last night, and am hoping for a little more time this evening and this week.  We'll see how I do.  I don't know if it's the continued hot weather we're having here in the Midwest or what, but I just haven't had much motivation.  All that being said, I am in desperate need for some cards!  I have a number of birthdays and anniversaries coming up, as well as a baby shower and the wedding of some good friends of ours.  So I better find my mojo soon!!

This past week, Die Cuttin Divas has been having a sketch challenge.  I'm getting this card in just before the deadline!  This sketch gave me just the motivation I needed to get one of my much-needed birthday cards completed.  :)

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your week is off to a wonderful start!

Recipe:

Solid cardstock from Bazzill and Recollections

Party hat image from Doodlecharms cut at 2.25 inches

Ribbon from American Crafts

Buttons from my stash

Stickles

Happy Birthday Mom!

Hello everyone!  I hope you all had a wonderful holiday yesterday.  My sweetie and I came home from celebrating with friends and watching fireworks only to realize that our air conditioner had conked out.  Not good when they're forecasting triple digit temperatures here for the next 3 days!  Thankfully we were able to get some good recommendations from friends for HVAC repair companies and someone was able to come out today to fix our air conditioner - and thankfully it was something they could fix easily and we didn't have to wait for parts to be ordered!!

On a brighter note, today is my mother's birthday.  The card I'm sharing today is the one I made for her.  A while back I googled 'card sketches' and found a ton of great images.  I didn't write down where the sketches originated unfortunately, so I'm not able to give appropriate credit.  Sorry!  This card is based off of a sketch I found online.  I used my Yummy Imagine cartridge for the image and the background papers - I just love my Imagine and how the papers and images coordinate!

Thanks for coming by to take a look.  If you're in the midst of this heat wave as well, I hope you're keeping cool!!

Recipe:

Solid cardstock from Recollections

Pattern papers printed from Yummy Imagine cartridge

Cupcake from Yummy cartridge printed and cut at 2 inches

i-rock gems

Glossy Accents

pop dots

Happy 4th of July!

Good afternoon!  I hope you're all having a great holiday!!  My sweetie and I played golf early this morning, trying to beat the heat.  We're headed to a bar-b-que with some friends this evening and to see a fireworks show.  I made some Cookies and Cream cupcakes to take with us.  I found this recipe on Pinterest.  You can see the recipe I used here.  I made some cupcake toppers with images from the Stand and Salute cartridge to make them a little more festive.  I didn't want to use glitter on the toppers (I was worried some glitter would fall off onto the cupcakes), so I used white and Clear Star Sakura gel pens to try to 'bling' up the images a little.

I'm going to enter these into the challenges over at Die Cuttin Divas and Fantabulous Cricut.  The challenge at Die Cuttin Divas is a color challenge with a bonus - use red, white and blue and as a bonus add a patriotic symbol.  I don't think my fireworks images are patriotic, but I got the colors!  The challenge at Fantabulous Cricut is Kaboom! Firework Celebration - make a project with a firework, sparkler or other big boom.

Thanks for coming by to take a look and I hope you all have a fabulous and safe 4th of July!!

Recipe:
Cardstock from Recollections
Firework and fire cracker from Stand and Solute cut at 2 inches
White and Clear Star Sakura gel pens

Cake Ingredients:
1 Devil's Food boxed cake mix, prepared as instructed on box
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
24 Oreos

Frosting Ingredients:
2 blocks (8 oz) cream cheese, softened at room temperature
2 cups (4 sticks) butter
1/2 tsp salt (if using unsalted butter)
8 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2-4 Tbsp heavy cream, half and half or milk
Crushed Oreos (I crushed the remaining regular sized Oreos in the package)
24 mini Oreos

Directions:
1. Prepare cake mix and stir in chocolate chips.  Line 2 cupcake pans with liners and place one Oreo in the bottom of each.  Fill each cup with batter to 2/3 full.  Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
2. Using an electric mixer, cream butter and cream cheese on medium speed until smooth.  Add salt if needed.
3. Two cups at a time, add the powdered sugar, beating after each addition.  Add vanilla and beat to combine.  If icing gets too thick to mix, add one tablespoon at a time of the milk until it is smooth again.  On the other hand, if the icing is too thin, add a half cup powdered sugar at a time until it reaches the right consistency.  Your icing should not fall off the beater right away when lifted out of the bowl.  You want a consistency that will not moved once it is piped onto the cupcakes.
4. Once the icing is the right consistency, beat on medium speed for one minute until fluffy.  Mix in crushed Oreos.
5. Pipe or spread icing onto the cupcakes and top each one with an Oreo Mini.